Police records show Chicago Bears Super Bowl champion Matt Suhey died of natural causes at his Deerfield, Illinois, home after his wife of 38 years called authorities, and the investigation is already closed.
Donna Suhey directed a Deerfield Police Department officer through the garage of the couple's residence and up to a bedroom, where the 68-year-old former fullback lay unresponsive with no pulse. Officers had received the call at roughly 2:07 p.m. on Sunday. Fourteen minutes later, at 2:21 p.m., Matt Suhey was pronounced dead, police documents obtained by the New York Post show.
The Deerfield Police Department's case report left no ambiguity about the circumstances. "Due to no suspicious circumstances," the report stated, "the death investigation will be closed." Donna Suhey shared with responding officers a list of the daily medications her husband had been taking, and the Lake County Coroner's Office confirmed the rest.
A spokesperson for the coroner's office told reporters on Tuesday that Suhey "had a significant medical history and was being treated by a primary care physician." The office described its own investigation as "limited" and said Suhey's primary care doctor would complete the death certificate, listing the cause as natural causes.
Matt Suhey was a second-round selection in the 1980 NFL Draft and spent his entire 10-year professional career in Chicago. He piled up more than 5,000 total yards from scrimmage and scored 25 touchdowns, workmanlike numbers for a fullback whose primary job was clearing a path for someone else.
That someone else was Walter Payton. Suhey's reputation in Chicago was built not on highlight reels but on the bruising, unglamorous blocking that let one of the greatest runners in NFL history do his work. The partnership reached its peak in 1985, when Suhey and the Bears demolished the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
The Bears organization issued a statement on Tuesday that captured the way Suhey was remembered inside the building:
"Being a fullback epitomized Suhey's play style, tough, physical, and unafraid of any opposition. Matt carried those same qualities off the field, as well. A beloved teammate and treasured friend, Suhey passionately strove to remain connected with the Bears and his teammates long after his playing career, including as a mainstay at Bears Alumni events."
The organization called itself "deeply saddened" by the loss. For a franchise that trades on its blue-collar identity, Suhey fit the mold as well as anyone who ever wore the jersey.
Walter Payton died in 1999. What happened next says as much about Matt Suhey's character as anything he did on the field. Jarrett Payton, Walter's son, published an emotional tribute on social media this week describing the role Suhey played in the Payton family for more than two decades after Walter's death.
"After we lost my dad in 1999, Matt became the biggest father figure I had. When everything felt uncertain, he was there. My dad left him in charge and Matt never let that responsibility sit lightly. He protected our family. He looked after us. He made sure we were okay, year after year, without ever making it about himself."
Jarrett Payton called Suhey "my dad's closest friend." His final line was simple: "That is who he was."
The tribute paints a picture of a man who honored a private obligation for a quarter-century without seeking attention for it. Suhey blocked for Payton on the field, and then he blocked for Payton's family long after there were no cameras and no cheering.
Suhey's home in Deerfield sits in Lake County, Illinois, a suburban stretch north of Chicago that has seen its share of loss. The same county was the site of the 2022 Highland Park July Fourth parade shooting, where seven people were killed, including Kevin and Irina McCarthy, whose two-year-old son Aiden was found alone and bloodied at the scene. That community knows grief.
Suhey's death carried none of that violence. By every official account, a 68-year-old man with a significant medical history died quietly at home, attended to by a wife who had been at his side for nearly four decades. The coroner's office saw no reason to dig further. The police saw no reason to keep the case open.
Some details remain unknown. The specific nature of Suhey's medical history has not been disclosed publicly, nor have the medications Donna Suhey shared with officers. Whether the death certificate has been finalized by his primary care physician is unclear.
But the broad strokes are plain. Matt Suhey lived a life defined by doing the hard, quiet work, on the field, in the Payton family, and at every Bears Alumni gathering where he kept showing up long after the last whistle.
They don't make many like that anymore. The people who knew him best seem to understand exactly what they lost.
